7 arrested from Pavi Jetpur in 2009 lynching case

VADODARA: Six years after three persons were lynched on suspicion of being thieves in Kadwal village of Pavi Jetpur taluka, CID (crime) has made first arrests in the case. CID sleuths arrested seven persons, all residents of Pavi Jetpur in Chhota Udepur, on Wednesday after they were summoned for questioning. The police are probing involvement of other locals too.
“We have arrested seven persons of the total 11 accused. The rest are yet to be tracked,” said CID (crime) Inspector, A B Saiyad. Those arrested have been identified as Kishan Harijan, Satish Harijan, Vikram Bariya, Narwat Bariya, Narsinh Bariya of Kadwal village, Arvind Bariya of Nana Madni village and Balsinh Rathwa of Jambua village.
The lynching had taken place on July 22, 2009, in Jhari village of Pavi Jetpur when a mob had caught hold of the three persons Gajra Moti, Dilip Salat and Jaggu Majapoojak of Chhota Udepur. The mob took them for thieves and thrashed them severely. The police rushed to the spot and took away the trio but the mob had followed them to the police station. The locals had then snatched the accused from the police custody and again thrashed them which allegedly led to their death.
Police had to lob teargas shells and fire one round in the air to disperse the angry mob. About five cops including the then circle police inspector were suspended and the case was immediately transferred to CID (crime) who did not arrest anyone for the last six years despite identifying some of the accused.